Learning Thai

We are home from Vientiane and thankful for a good trip. We can't really imagine things going any better- from the smooth border crossings and short wait at the embassy to receiving our visa with no problems and enjoying the town. It was an refreshing to have time together as a family and time with our friend Pon. We are thanking God so much for turning a stressful situation into something good.

we were at the embassy for literally 20 minutes!

kids pass the time playing monkey game on the ipod

the girls declared this playground (we visited daily) to be the best one they ever played on.

after a long walk through the dry, sandy riverbed, we waded in the Mekong River

at the Mekong

plenty of time for rest at the hotel

Lani Guesthouse- which we particularly love for it's Lao antiques and breakfasts on the porch

Silas got lots of picture requests, but seemed especially happy to oblige this cute girl! :)

we enjoyed the river walk and dinner every night with our friend, Pon. We had great Chinese and Indian but this Vietnamese place was our favorite. We all love making our own spring rolls.

thrilled about riding the train again!

Thank you for your prayers- we definitely felt God's presence with us and things went so smoothly because of Him. Thank you!!
-Candice

Posted by Tom & Candice Mast at 09:52 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

It's amazing that things have turned out this way, but we are headed back to Laos tomorrow and this is Tom's third trip there within a month. We are starting to feel like Laos is a second home! Although we regret the need to make this trip and are feeling tired and stressed by how quickly we need to get things together and take off, we are glad for another chance to visit Pon and stay in the lovely city of Vientiane.

Our trip to immigration this morning started with a debriefing by our lawyer and we went in hoping for an extension on our 7 days- a little more time to get the foundation up and running and ready for inspection. Things did not go as we hoped. Rather than appeal, we decided to make the trip to Laos for a new visa and a fresh start. We still have the foundation license and work permit and are continuing to work toward a one year visa.

We will be taking the kids, flying to Vientiane tomorrow, and returning by train on Monday night. Please pray for a smooth visa processing at the embassy, good behavior from the kids, good time with Pon, and safety in our travels. Thank you for your prayers so far. Although this process is not going smoothly all the time and we are facing barriers and frustrations that are unexpected, we have also seen God in the process, giving us peace and helping us see the good.

We are also making quick progress on the foundation in case of another upcoming inspection- the office now has a glass storefront and a brand new sign! (pictures when we return). A board member (our friend Ju) is ready to have the office open while we are in Laos. So thankful for how things are coming together and excited about the future work of the foundation!

Posted by Tom & Candice Mast at 10:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Yes, there is Visa stress at our house right now- headaches, stomach aches, and worry. However, good things are happening too. Tom had a great visit with Lan and Pon in Laos. The kids and I had a quiet but good week at home (most of the time!). I want to share just a few pictures from around the house the last few weeks, the early days of the girl's school holiday...

A new kiddie pool and sushi lunch (our favorite!) to celebrate the end of a school year!

Keeping cool.

After an extremely hot few weeks, we got some really strange weather for the season. One night it poured rain and flooded our street (see picture above) and then it turned chilly and we were wearing sweaters as the temps dropped to the 70s! My friend Sao said we had all three seasons in one week. Now we're back to normal hot weather.

Home Sunday School (The Lord is My Shepherd)...the girls are also doing about an hour of home school a day during the break to keep their brains working!

The girls all dressed up to go see a movie with Mommy. Thanks for Claire's dress, Swartzentrubers!

I love that Claire loves making potholders just like I did when I was her age!

Silas is still in love with trains. He likes to sleep with a train on his chest. :) He is also doing great with potty training and is almost there. He loves the house Daddy made for him out of two big cardboard boxes (complete with a lion picture on the wall and windows to look out of).

Tom taught the kids about the armor of God and they loved dressing up and stomping around fighting the powers of darkness. :)

- Candice

Posted by Tom & Candice Mast at 10:11 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

We ran into the first major snag in our attempt to start a foundation and get visas through it. On Friday we went to the immigration office, expecting a stamp in our passports to give us another 60 days in Thailand (part of a 3 step process toward getting a one year visa). Instead, we were told we hadn't made enough progress in opening the foundationoffice (we thought we had more time for this and were in the process of getting air con, a front door, and a sign but aren't' yet open for business) and they are asking us to leave the country within 7 days to get a new visa. This also involves Tom reapplying for a new work permit under the foundation also.
This was really disappointing news for us and we felt a lot of frustration related to our lack of understanding of the requirements (we had no idea they would be doing an office inspection or that the foundation should already be open). Our lawyer Joe is working on the situation and is optimistic that he can help us plead our case at immigration and ask for another shot at the 60 days without leaving the country. He is coming down from Chiang Mai and we'll go with him to immigration on Wednesday morning to ask for more time. Please pray for grace from the officials that day.
If that plan doesn't work, we will need to go to Laos (Tom has already been to Laos on two separate trips in the last month!) and apply for another visa at the embassy (we'll plan to take the kids).
Please pray for peace, especially for Tom. He has put a lot of work into this process and it's very disheartening for him and we question our ability to get through this process at times because of the red tape and language barriers involved. Pray that God would ease our doubts, help us to have faith and give us wisdom.
Thank you!
-Candice

Posted by Tom & Candice Mast at 09:59 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Bang Pu is a favorite place to visit for our family. The kids always enjoy the crazy rush of seagulls flying overhead and watching them scoop up the bread we throw into the air. While Tom was away, we got out of the house for the evening and went with the Reachers (and a few friends of theirs visiting Thailand) and fed the gulls and had some seafood on the pier.

We love these girls! From left, Reachers: Beth, Rachel, Brittany, Rhonda, and Trudi. The Reachers had a great experience visiting Laos and then staying with host families in Eastern Thailand this month. Now they are back volunteering at The Well (outreach to bar girls. Click for more information) and preparing to teach MKs at our upcoming anabaptist retreat as well as hosting friends and family visiting Thailand. Pray that we are able to find them host families and that they can make a smooth transition from living as a team to living in homes.

- Candice

Posted by Tom & Candice Mast at 10:34 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

We are so proud of Claire for passing her final exams and moving on to the third grade!! Congratulations, Abby! We have been waiting anxiously for her results ever since her exams two weeks ago and they were on the school website yesterday. Soooo happy that she made it through Chinese and Thai Social Studies! We are proud of her persistence and amazed to have a third grader in the family- where has time gone! At the end of the year, she also won an award for good manners and good behavior (along with these other classmates). We are happy that others are noticing that she is a sunbeam for Jesus!

For now, both girls are on a 2 1/2 month summer break from school. (they have another one month break in October between terms). The hot season is definitely here- very high temps and humidity. They are spending their summer break swimming in the kiddie pool, reading a lot, playing with the new guinea pig, etc. Both seem happy for the change in schedule and slower pace. Please pray for us as we consider what do to re: Eliza's schooling in this coming school year.

Thanks for your prayers this week as Tom is gone. We are happy that this is his last solo trip for awhile and that our next two trips will be as a family in April. Also glad that he has this chance to encourage and spend time with Pon and Lan!

-Candice

Posted by Tom & Candice Mast at 09:04 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

In a few minutes I'll leave for the train station and another trip to Laos. It seems like I just got back home and I'm not looking forward to another separation from the family, but this is how it's working out. I have postponed train tickets that need to be used and our friend Lan needs to go to Laos to renew his visa. We'll be staying with our friend Pon and I'm looking forward to spending time with the two of them. Pon and Lan have been talking on the phone a lot and Pon has been discipling him - so it will be good for the two of them to have a few days face-to-face. I'll get back to Bangkok early Thursday morning.

We'd certainly appreciate your prayers for my trip (safety, meaningful conversations) and for the family at home. Silas is living up to the two-year-old reputation so Candice will need plenty of patience!

Thanks for your support.

-Tom

Posted by Tom & Candice Mast at 06:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Last week Eliza and I accompanied the REACH team on their visa-renewal trip. We went into Laos and spent a couple of days with some friends there. We participated in a team worship service, prayed in their city and hung out at an English teaching center - helping those students who were bold enough to approach us practice their English. Following that we crossed back into Thailand and spent some time with workers from the Brethren in Christ Church who are living in northeastern Thailand. We were able to meet some of the university students they are working with (including Piak - the young man who lived in Bangkok for a while). And we visited the newly-opened fish farm that one of the team members has started.

Eliza was a good traveling companion and especially enjoyed making herself at home in the hotel rooms where we stayed. (These were very basic rooms but it didn't take much to impress her!) We enjoyed the train trip, the slightly cooler weather and the foods that we don't get in Bangkok (French bread!) But the real highlight was spending time with others who are actively engaged in a variety of ministries. We were encouraged by their dedication and by how God is working in and through them. Here are some pictures (excuse the cell-phone quality)...

Breakfast in Laos

A friendly girl we met in a temple during our walk around the city.

Our friends recently opened a ceramic water filter factory. Eliza is checking out one of the kilns.

Here are the flower-pot-like water filters

The highlight of the trip for Eliza was spending a day with Julia. They were born just one day apart and they had a great time playing dolls, laughing, and painting their nails.

And one last picture of pretty Eliza.

-Tom

Posted by Tom & Candice Mast at 11:39 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

A little Silas update for you today....

He loves to say, "I think I can, I think I can" as the train goes over the bridge.

Silas is totally fascinated by trains these days....pretty much anything train related. He loves to play with the wooden train set he got for his birthday, watch real train videos on YouTube, ride on trains, listen to songs about trains, color in his train coloring book, and read his train books. It's a slight obsession.

The Little Engine that Could is by far his favorite book right now. He often gets all four of us to read it to him in one day. A day never goes by that he does not bring it to one of us. He has a lot of it memorized and likes us to let him fill in the blanks. He also loves his new Thomas the Tank Engine book that was his Valentine's present.

In other news, he's also potty training. He is having a great daytime success rate at this point and sometimes keeping his diaper dry at night. We are proud at his sudden spurt of progress. Next step- trying undies outside the house. Scary!

"I did it!" Don't worry- we got him his own undies so he can stop wearing Dora.

-C

Posted by Tom & Candice Mast at 10:22 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)